Crocodylus affinis

"Crocodylus" affinis is an extinct species of crocodyloid from the Eocene of Wyoming. Fossils were first described from the Bridger Formation by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871. Marsh described the species, along with every other species of crocodyloid in the Bridger Formation, under the genus Crocodylus. The known specimen of "Crocodylus" affinis is a skull found at Grizzly Buttes, Wyoming, measuring 13 inches in length on the upper surface. Recent phylogenetic studies of crocodyloids show that "C." affinis is not a species of Crocodylus, but a genus has not yet been erected to include the species. Other Bridger species such as Crocodylus clavis and Brachyuranochampsa zangerli have been synonymized with "C." affinis.

Crocodylus affinis

Smokeybjb · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CrocodylusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 45.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 39.7 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 23 occurrencesEocene — about 23 of 23 occurrencesEocene57–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51.1 Mya45.9 Mya56.5 Mya39.2 Mya

23 occurrences of Crocodylus affinis on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

23 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Bridger — 42.37°N, 108.91°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.70°WGreen River — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Crocodylus affinis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Crocodylus affinis and its relatives

Eocene

Where Crocodylus affinis and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

202 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Crocodylus affinis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

8 references

Each of the 23 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Crocodylus affinis

Credit
Smokeybjb
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Crocodylus affinis · amnh:farb:1719

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrocodylus through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1871